For Ohjodi

This is the front porch of our forum. Pull up a chair, and talk about whatever's on your mind.
ohjodi
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 3:57 pm

Re: For Ohjodi

Post by ohjodi »

Oh, the bank I worked at was RBS Citizens Bank/Charter One, at the call center in downtown Pittsburgh.

"RBS" is Royal Bank of Scotland. They no longer own Citizens Bank/Charter one, so there's no RBS in the name. The Charter One brand is now defunct, so it's just Citizens Bank.
ohjodi
floridacatlover
Posts: 8057
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: For Ohjodi

Post by floridacatlover »

ohjodi wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 12:50 pm Yes, I read that story last week. I so was tempted to respond to the article in the comments section, but honestly I didn't want to spend time explaining my opinion because it would be long, LOL

BUT SINCE YOU ASKED!!! LOL

And, yes, I agree with firing her. She had direct personal contact with a customer, and left the premises during her work day. Her manager was wrong to allow her to do so, and I believe he/she was also fired, which I also agree with. These types of calls happened ALL THE TIME, and aside from security, safety, and insurance issues, if the bank let employees leave to go give money to customers all the time, the call centers would be understaffed, LOL Also, even though she was "off the clock", if she were injured in any way, such as a car accident or tripping over a curb and breaking her foot, she would be claiming workmans' comp, filing medical claims, or could even sue the bank...even if she didn't win a lawsuit, the bank certainly would not want to deal with it. AND if she injured someone else, by causing a car accident or hitting someone, for example, a lawsuit could have been huge and last for years.

As many of you know, I worked at a bank call center for four years.....the exact same job she had. I had many, MANY calls from customers who were in similar jams, the saddest of which were elderly people with no money for groceries.

What she should have done, is make sure his debit card is opted-in to overdrafting. This means you want your debit card to be approved even if there isn't enough in your account.

WHAT!?!!??

YES. Then have the customer select "pay inside" at the gas pump, pump his gas, go inside to pay, but use his debit card.....PROCESSED AS "CREDIT". When you choose "credit" there is NO OVERDRAFT FEE if it overdraws your account. This is because "credit" is a "guaranteed payment" to the merchant. And why that doesn't get an overdraft fee I don't exactly recall, LOL That policy applied to all banks, not just mine. Perhaps that has changed in the six years since I left the bank, I don't know.

Either way, I would have checked the customer's account for the next couple of days, to see if there actually was a fee, and then I would have refunded it. If the customer did not have a history of excessive overdrafts, it would have been allowed. And given the circumstances, It would have been allowed, anyway, as a courtesy.

I could have also looked for previous overdraft fees, or atm or statement fees, and refunded some of those, depending. That would have returned money to his account immediately, and he could buy his gas.

If the employee did not know that this could be done, her manager absolutely should have known, and advised her to do so. This is exactly how I first learned to do it.

I believe there is more to this story............this could have been a brand-new checking account, where banks do reserve the right to hold checks for up to ten days, to prevent fraud. We don't know who his new employer was. If it was a brand new business, or if it had a history of bouncing payroll checks, THAT bank could have been holding up the money.

I had a customer call me one night, very upset because it was a week before her Social Security money came in, and she had no money in her account. She desperately needed groceries and dog food. It was overdrawn. She would always withdraw money from the ATM at her grocery store about twice per week. It was our ATM, so she never got fees. HOWEVER, a few months before she called me, that ATM was replaced by another bank, so she was getting $3 fees, both from the new bank, AND from us because it wasn't "our" ATM, anymore. She did not notice that it was a different bank. Each time she withdrew any money, she was charged $6, and didn't know it. Since her balance was much lower than she thought, a check she had recently written had overdrawn, and we charged her a $30 overdraft fee. I refunded all of our $3 fees, plus the $30 overdraft fee, immediately putting about $100 back into her account. I also told her that she could buy groceries with that debit card, and get cash back from the cashier, so she could avoid using that ATM. She didn't know she could even use a debit card for purchases, she thought it was just an ATM card. I told her the locations of the our two other closest ATM machines. She also did not know that our local bank branch was open on Saturdays.

I realize that yes, she should have been checking her bank statements, or calling us regularly to go over her transactions......but I learned while talking to customers that many people are simply overwhelmed by paperwork that we assume is simple. Especially the elderly, or people who seemed to me to have some mental disability. Medications can also make things difficult for people. Some people are just intimidated by talking on the phone with banks, utilities, doctors, etc, so they avoid doing it. She was very anxious when she called me, and kept apologizing for "bothering me".

If her issue hadn't been the unknown fees, I would have told her to do what the guy who needed gas should have done.....opt in to over-drafting the debit card, and choose "credit" at the register.

So that's my opinion!
Jodi, you have reinforced my view that you are one of the smartest people on this forum. Seriously.

Such great detail in your answer. So am I understanding this right that a debit card can be used as a credit card even if the bank account balance is lower than the amount to be charged? Never thought of that. Does the account have to be opted in to overdraft in this case?

I’m not sure I agree with you that the bank would be liable if the woman was injured/caused an accident on her break but maybe that is true? Would it make a difference if it were her lunch hour? (Back in the day, my newspaper employed teenagers to sell the paper at malls/grocery store entrances. There was a terrible case that a boy got to his location early and was playing ball with someone. He went through a plate glass window and had massive, lifelong injuries. The newspaper fought it tooth and nail saying he wasn’t at work. The lawyer said the boy would not have been there if not for work. I never heard the outcome.)

Seriously, even with your medical problems it is too bad there isn’t a job you could do that uses your smarts.
clemencia2us
Posts: 11445
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:21 am

Re: For Ohjodi

Post by clemencia2us »

She provided lots of good info

I am going to have to tell the COD about the pay with credit on his debit card

He is one of those people that never checks his balance and just skips happily through life - overdrafts and all :shock:
ohjodi
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 3:57 pm

Re: For Ohjodi

Post by ohjodi »

A registered sex offender will never get housing or Section 8 assistance. Never.

AND, if he should find himself a girlfriend who happens to live in public housing, she best be forewarned about letting him hang out there, much less sleep over or move in.

The neighbors will find out about him in no time, and report her to the housing authority. She'll lose her apartment, and never get it again.

AND if he's living with her in housing, he's probably not telling the police that that is his address....he'd be using a fake address of a friend's house or something. So, I guess you could say he'll then get his own public housing.....in prison! lol
ohjodi
ohjodi
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 3:57 pm

Re: For Ohjodi

Post by ohjodi »

floridacatlover wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:13 pm So am I understanding this right that a debit card can be used as a credit card even if the bank account balance is lower than the amount to be charged? Never thought of that. Does the account have to be opted in to overdraft in this case?

I’m not sure I agree with you that the bank would be liable if the woman was injured/caused an accident on her break but maybe that is true? Would it make a difference if it were her lunch hour?
If your debit/credit card is "opted-in" to overdrawing, you can use the card when you don't have enough money in the account. The purchase will approve whether you use it as debit or credit. Last I knew six years ago, "credit" would not get an overdraft fee, but "debit" would. Also, at least at the bank I worked at, purchases under $5 would not get a fee if they overdrew.

Banks send out notices to customers telling them of the opt-in option, but I don't know how often. You can call your bank (the number on your card) and ask if you're opted-in or not. If you do opt-in, you can set it to a certain limit, like $50 to maybe $1000. And that's a DAILY limit.

You can call your bank at any time and change your opt-in/out. So if you've opted out, but find yourself in a situation where you absolutely need to buy gas on xmas eve with no money in the account, you can call and they'll swtich it on for you. Then in the next day or two, call the bank to find out if you got a fee. If you did, ask for a refund......if you're in good standing with the bank, and especially if you're a long time customer, they will likely refund it.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT THIS OPTION, AND HERE'S WHY....

You could find yourself in an emergency situation where you need cash right away. I'm thinking a hurricane evacuation, for example. Maybe you have money in other accounts, but the banks are closed and you need that money. Take the money from an ATM, and deal with the overdraft issue later. Cash is KING when all heck breaks loose, lol

Some people have their checking account linked to a savings account, so if you do overdraw it will just come from savings, even if you are not opted-in to overdrawing.

DO NOT LINK YOUR SAVINGS TO YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT. If there is fraud on your debit/credit card, not only will your checking money be gone, but so will your savings. Yes, you will probably get it back when you file a fraud claim, but that can take a lot of time.

Anyway......about the liability of the employee leaving the bank...........while the bank might not be liable for any injuries or accidents, determining that will still involve lawsuits, lawyers, a big headache and bills for determining that . The bank can say no, but the employee can still sue them. She might lose, of course, but it all is avoided if employees don't gallivant around town about anything concerning the bank or its customers.
ohjodi
ohjodi
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 3:57 pm

Re: For Ohjodi

Post by ohjodi »

clemencia2us wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:16 pm She provided lots of good info

I am going to have to tell the COD about the pay with credit on his debit card

He is one of those people that never checks his balance and just skips happily through life - overdrafts and all :shock:
Call the bank and opt-out of the debit/credit overdraft on his card. Or set the limit low, like $50. That's a daily limit.

and Psssst......even if your name is not on his account, you can call and get it changed on his card. You can actually call and do a lot of things to a person's account, even though you are not on the account.

This is the dirty secret of banking. When you call customer service, they ask questions like your name, last four of your SSN, date and amount of last deposit, etc, etc to verify who you are especially if you are calling to make any changes to the account or move money.

It doesn't matter if the name on the account is "Frank", and you sound like a "Mary". If you say your name is Frank and can answer security questions, the customer service agent has to give you access to that account information and any maintenance.

YEP.

Sounds crazy, but it's really not. The customer service agent cannot decide if a name is male or female. "Leslie" can be male or female. "Jodi", too! But the real problem is "ethnic" names.....names that I could never pronounce, much less decide if they are male or female. Even though some names seem to be obvious, like "Mary", the bank is not allowed to deny anyone service on an account if they can answer security questions. The TYPES of service can be denied, like changing the address AND ordering checks or debit cards within a certain time frame.

It IS illegal for someone to make changes on another person's account, of course. But the bank is not liable if the person calling identified themselves as the owner of the account and answered security questions.

So.....take from this what you will, LOL
ohjodi
Post Reply